City of Ukiah may donate ambulances to MCOE

Two abandoned ambulances sitting in a field along Airport Road may soon be used to train future medical first responders by the Mendocino County Office of Education.

The ambulances were declared surplus, or unneeded, by the city of Ukiah after it stopped providing ambulance services, and City Manager Jane Chambers said her staff was preparing to sell them when MCOE instructor Patrick Garrett asked if they could be donated to his program that trains paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians.

"These units could be used in our programs to provide realistic simulation of what it is like to deliver emergency life support inside of an ambulance," Garrett wrote in his letter to Chambers requesting use of the vehicles. "Our Ukiah EMT program is not located at a fire or ambulance station, (which) makes accurately simulating working within the ambulance environment difficult. I believe these ambulances could better prepare our students to work in the field."

After Chambers requested more information, Dennis Aseltyne, the director of MCOE's Career and Technical Education, explained that his office was expanding its program at Ukiah High School, which had more than 200 students request to enroll next year, five times the number enrolled this year.

The units would never be used for medical transportation, and all of the city decals would be removed and replaced with wording "denoting MCOE Training Unit," Aseltyne added.

"We have a nice location to keep these units, which right now is behind the high school," said Garrett, explaining that the ambulances could possibly move into the garage later.

Since City Attorney David Rapport noted that "case law may not support the transfer (of the ambulances) if a gift of public funds' issue were raised," Chambers said she was requesting that the Ukiah City Council vote on the matter.

"If the council is interested, you could direct me to work with the city attorney to create an agreement that meets the test so we don't have a gift of public funds issue," Chambers told the council at its April 2 meeting, adding that it could be argued that the donation of the units could help train potential paramedics and EMTs for the city. "We have received employees through this training."

"Are these worth anything to anyone else?" asked Council member Steve Scalmanini, and Chambers said she also received a call requesting that the ambulances be donated to Mexico.

"Well, they do have a market value -- they could be sold," said Rapport, and Scalmanini said that was what he was getting at. Chambers said one ambulance was worth about $5,000 and the other $4,000.

The council then voted unanimously to support Chambers moving forward with the donation.

"They're just sitting there collecting weather and abuse right now," said Council member Benj Thomas. "Or are we getting the abuse?"

"I would like to respond that we surplus items all of the time," Chambers said. "And they've really only been siting there for the last several months" while staff prepares them for auction."

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3500, ext. 1141.